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BANGALORE: India's largest selling scotch whisky for a decade , Teacher's , lost the top slot as investigations of the New York-listed parent Beam Inc into irregularities at the local unit drag on.

Teacher's saw market share drop more than 6 per cent to fall just below 30 per cent in the past three months as a probe into Beam's fully-owned India unit under Foreign Corrupt Practices Act entered the fifth month. French drinks giant Pernod Ricard's 100 Pipers went past Teacher's to become the country's largest-selling scotch whisky in the same period, snapping the latter's almost 10-year reign since 2004, according to industry data collated by this newspaper.

100 Pipers saw market share rise to 33 per cent, up from 29 per cent a quarter back. Teacher's held 36-37 per cent share of the locally bottled standard scotch consumption in India till Beam initiated investigations based on whistleblower concerns. In October, TOI first reported about Beam's probe into alleged violations of US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in Indian operations. Beam has placed senior management of its India unit under suspension pending investigations . Beam had halted production of Teacher's and other local brands for a while before resuming it last month.

"Our compliance investigation is making progress. Having taken corrective actions that significantly reduced our commercial activity in the market — including some outof-stock situations that impacted near-term market share — we are ramping up to restore our place in the market. Equity in the Teacher's brand remains very strong and we expect market share will trend favorably in the coming months," Beam spokesperson Clarkson Hine told TOI.

India and Brazil are the most crucial markets for Teacher's , a standard whisky also popular in the travel retail worldwide. Earlier this week, analyst CLSA said the ongoing probe at the India unit crippled sales and posed a significant "headwind" to growth prospects in 2013. This came even as Beam posted a robust 6.7 per cent rise in sales to about $2.5 billion in 2012, but analysts warned that a more than anticipated slowdown in India sales could be an overhang this year.

VAT 69 and Black Dog, other standard rivals of Teacher's , also gained between 1-2 per cent each in market share, taking advantage of the flux at Beam India.

Diageo's VAT 69 (20 per cent) and United Spirits's Black Dog (18 per cent) are other significant players in the more than 1.2 million cases (of 9 litres each) standard scotch whisky market, growing at around 17 per cent annually. The locally-bottled standard scotch brands has had a lion's share of domestic scotch consumption even though the more premium bottled-in origin counterparts like Johnnie Walker, Chivas Regal and Ballantine's are now reporting aggressive growth in India's two-million-cases-plus annual sales.

"The trade pipeline corrections owing to production halts would have caused the last quarter drop, but the impact at the consumer level will be felt in another three months. Beam is coming up with a big trade scheme to push sales in Mumbai , for instance," said a senior industry executive who did not wish to be named.

But India's premium liquor mart is getting consolidated between the two biggies Diageo and Pernod Ricard , especially after the former acquired a controlling stake in United Spirits, making it tougher for players like Teacher's to script a complete come-back , added a second executive at a rival firm.

SOBERING SCOTCH SALES

Teacher's mkt share fell over 6 per cent to below 30 per cent in last 3 months after a probe by parent co Beam Inc over irregularities at India unit entered 5th month Pernod Ricard's 100 Pipers is now the country's top-selling scotch with a mkt share of 33 per cent, up from 29 per cent in previous quarter VAT 69 and Black Dog also gained 1-2 per cent each due to the trouble at Beam India, rising to 20 per cent and 18 per cent respectively.